Latch means for jaw wrenches



Jan. 23, 1951 w. sNlEzYK LATCH MEANS FOR JAW WRENCHES 2 Sheets-Shee lFiled Sept. 25, 1948 INVENTOR:

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Jan. 23, 1951 w. sNlEzYK 2,538,851

LATCH MEANS FOR JAW WRENCHES v Filed Sept. 25, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 76' T JJ /z /4 /f Z n. 7 57 E. [EL BY Wa/er Sniezyk,

AT TOR EY.

Patented Jan. 23, 1951 STATES PATENTy QFFICE LATCH MEANS FOR JAWWRENCHES Walter Sniezyk, Detroit, Mich.

Application September 23, 1948, 'Serial No. 50,810

' (Cl. SIL- 129) 2 Claims.

My improvement pertains to a wrench which `byy reason of a movab'emember may be effectively' applied to nuts of varying sizes Within thelimitsfof the capacity of the wrench.

The wrench is of a type having a stationary surface for application tothe head of a nut from one side, and a sliding member by means of whichthe head may be clamped from vthe opposite side. Once this is done, thesliding member may be locked against displacement. The advantages ofthis particular type of Wrench will become obvious in the course of thedescription of my wrench with reference to the accompanying drawings inwhich:

Fig. 1, is a perspectivefview of the wrench;

Fig. 2, is a plan elevational View of said Wrench;

Fig. 3, is a bottom view of the wrench with parts shown in section;

Fig. 4, is a longitudinal sectional view of line `4 1! of Fig. 2; Y

Fig. 5, is a perspective view of a sliding member of my wrench;

Fig. 6, is a sectional View on line B-I of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7, is a sectional View on line 'l-l of Fig. 4;

Fig. 8, is a sectional view on line 8 8 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 9, is a fragment of my wrench in section, showing a detail ofconstruction therein:

Fig. l0, is a sectional vieW on line I8`III of Fig. 9;

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The wrench includes a solid oblong member II] ofy uniform thickness andgradually tapering sides from head I i towards the handle portion I2.The mid-portion of said member is open as shown at I3 from a lineadjoining the tapered end to a line adjoining the head, said openingbeing of uniform width throughout. In other words. the member may bedescribed as an oblong frame with side rails thickening from the handlepor tion gradually toward the head II. The inner ,surfaces I4 of theopening are set at right angles to the top surface of the wrench as bestshown in Fig. l, each of the side surfaces i4 being groovedlongitudinally as shown at I5. A portion of each side rail in the handlepart of the wrench is cut out on the underside of the Wrench as shown atI5. This is done for the purpose of inserting into the frame ,a slidingmember which will be described presently. v

Each side surface I4 is provided with av plurality of aligned apertures,some of which, marked II, are located above the level of the groove I5,and someof which, marked Ila, are located below the level of saidgroove. The apertures at each level, are spaced from each other andmarked as shown at 32v by numerals arranged in sequence, increasing invalue in the direction of the handle.

Disposed within the opening I 3 is a sliding member generally indicatedby numeral I8. The member best illustrated in Fig. 5, includes a thickbody I9 having at each side a horizontal iin or tongue ZES fitting intoa respective groove I5 for a sliding movement therein. Set in atransverse slot 2i, is a bolt 22 provided with a radial handle bar 23extending outwardly throughout the open top of the slot and permittingthe bolt to be shifted manually into one of the apertures I'I above thelevel of groove I5.

Notches 24 and 25 cut transversely into the side of slot 2i serve toretain the handle bar in place to prevent longitudinal shifting ofY thebolt into or out of aperture II as the case may be. Similar bolt 29provided with a handle bar 2l, is slidingly disposed in a slot 28extending transversely in the body of the sliding member I8 below thelevel of' groove I5. The bolt is adapted to be shifted into a selectedaperture I'Ia below the level of tongue 2d. Notches 28 and 33 permit thehandle bar to be thrust into one of them, to prevent longitudinalmovement of the bolt when it is desired to keep an end of the bolt in anaperture Ila or out of it as the case may be.

The sliding member I8 may be moved longitudinay within the open portionof member I0 to a desired position with respect to markings 32. Toeliminate the possibility of having the sliding member drop out throughthe open space I3, I have provided a stop block 33, which is securedYwithin the handle portion of the wrench so as to be in the path of saidsliding member, when the latter is shifted in that direction. The blocklimits the extent of the movement of the sliding member so that fins 20will not completely slide out of grooves I5. The block itself isretained in place by means of a screw 34, passing through said blockinto the end portion of the body in of the wrench.

I shall now describe the operation of my Wrench:

Assuming that the Wrench is to be applied to the head of a nut, such asis shown in dotted lines and identied by numeral 35 in Fig. 3, thewrench is first placed over the head of the nut in such a manner thatone side of the head will bear against the inner surface 35 of the headportion of the Wrench, whereupon the sliding member is moved manuallyagainst the opposite side of the head by Way of a clamp. If the head ofthe screw is of a st-andard size, one of the sliding bolts 22 or 26 willbe opposite an aperture I1 or I'la, as the case may be, and the bolt maybe shifted endwise into the respective aperture to lock the slidingmember against displacement longitudinally with respect to the body ofthe wrench.

A provision has been made in my wrench to accommodate heads of nuts whena head has an uneven number of sides such as 3 or 5 or '1. In such acase, the sliding member would abut one side of the head, while the tipoppositely positioned at the juncture of two sides would fit into aV-shaped recess 31 in the head of the Wrench as shown in Fig. 2.Normally the recess is iilled by a plug 38 and retained in place bymeans of a screw 39 as shown in Fig, 3,

It will be understood that the wrench is not limited for use withconventional nuts but that it may be applied to nuts having heads oblongin shape, when two parallel sides maye be considerably longer than theremaining sides. Having described the wrench, what I wish to claim is asfollows:

1. A wrench comprising an oblong flat member of uniform thickness buttapering in one direction to form a broad head at one end and a narrowhandle at the other end, the mid portion of the member along itslongitudinal axis being open in the form of a slot of uniform width, oneside wall of the slot being provided with a plurality of aperturesspaced from each other and alined on one level, the other side wallbeing provided with a plurality of apertures spaced from each other andalined at a different level, a sliding member within the slot adapted tobe moved longitudinally therein and having a flat face on the endlooking towards the two sliding bolts seated transversely within thesliding member, one of the bolts being adapted to be shifted selectivelyinto one of the apertures in one level, and the other bolt being adaptedto be shifted selectively into one of said apertures at the other`level, and handle means on each bolt to operate the same.

2. A wrench comprising an oblong body member of uniform thickness buttapering from one end which forms its head to the other end which formsa handle, the mid portion of the member along its longitudinal axisbeing open to form a slot of uniform width, one side wall of the slotbeing provided with a plurality of apertures spaced longitudinally atone level, and the other side wall of the slot being provided with aplurality of apertures spaced from each other at a lower level,calibration marks on the top surface of the body member indicating thelocation of each aperture, a sliding member within the slot adapted tobe moved longitudinally therein and having a face at one end lookingtowards the head of the body member and adapted to serve as a clamp inopposition to the inner side of the head, two sliding bolts seatedtransversely in the sliding member, one at the level of apertures in oneside Wall of the slot, the other at the level of the apertures in theother side wall of the slot, and means to manually shift each bolt intoone of the apertures at its level to prevent longitudinal movement ofthe sliding member with respect to the slot.

WALTER SNIEZYK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 890,111 Walden June9, 1908979,348 Smith Dec, 20, 1910 1,195,020 Hughey Aug, 15, 1916 1,466,502Garbacz Aug. 28, 1923 1,505,896 Kershner Aug. 19, 1924 1,616,612 DoddsFeb, 8, 1927 2,293,866 Talch Aug. 25, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS NumberCountry Date 127,938 Great Britain June 19, 1919

